RGJ sports writer Chris Murray will break down each of Nevada’s 12 players eligible this season prior to the Wolf Pack basketball team’s season opener Nov. 10 versus Idaho. We will count the players down in alphabetical order using their last names. Today’s player: John Jones.

John Jones

Class: Freshman

Number: 3

Position: Point guard

Height/weight: 6-0/165

Hometown: Baton Rouge, La.

2016-17 stats (in high school): 15.5 ppg

Likely role: Jones walked onto Nevada from University Lab High in Baton Rouge, La., where he lived the past five years as his father, Johnny Jones, was LSU’s head coach. Jones was North Texas’ head coach for 11 years prior to that and Memphis for one season before that, so Jones’ dad has been a Division-I head coach for basically his entire life. After Johnny Jones accepted Nevada’s associate head coaching job this offseason, his son earned a walk-on spot shortly after. While undersized, Jones is a good shooter and ball-handler and has a high basketball IQ. He is one of three walk-ons on the team, all guards, so he’ll have to rise to the top of that pecking order before trying to crack Nevada’s talented rotation of players. The majority of his work will be done behind closed doors in practice, but Jones understands what it takes to be a high-level student-athlete after watching his dad run programs for the last 17 seasons.

Key stat: 1,300 — Jones scored 1,300 points in his high school career and earned all-state, all-metro and all-district honors. He won three state championships at University Laboratory. During Nevada’s Costa Rica tour over the summer, Jones played 35 minutes and tallied 11 points, eight rebounds and three assists while shooting 4-of-8 from the field, including 2-of-4 from three.

In his words: “I had some schools that were interested in me in Louisiana. I was giving those a look, but I kind of wanted to get away from home. I wasn’t 100 percent going to LSU if my dad was staying there, but when he got the job here and Muss offered me the chance to play on the team and I came out here and saw the scenery and met the people and felt the community’s support system, I felt like it’d be a good fit. … I’m definitely a shooter, but one part of my game that isn’t really seen as much is my passing ability. In high school, I didn’t necessarily have to score a lot because I found my teammates and set them up for good shots. … I loved watching Ben Simmons play. He seemed so nonchalant, but he almost always finished the game with a double-double and sometimes a triple-double. … Being a walk-on and being the only freshman on the team is kind of hard, but being able to take on a leadership role is something I’d like to do. … I want to bring the team hard work and push the guys on scout team, making sure they have to get in the right spots and making sure they’re well-prepared for the game and giving them support whether in the locker room or on the court during the game.”

Columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at cmurray@rgj.com or follow him on Twitter @MurrayRGJ.